Your daily ear practice
Build a 10-minute daily routine that trains every skill in this course, transcribe a short melody by ear step by step, and track your progress.
| Minutes | Part | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Home note | Hum a song you know and find the note it keeps settling on. |
| 3 | Intervals | Pick a note, sing a named interval above it, then check it. |
| 3 | Chord qualities | Hear a chord from a quiz app, a friend or a song, and name it: major, minor, diminished, augmented or seventh. |
| 3 | Rhythm or progression | Tap and count a song's rhythm, or hum its bass and count the bars. |
GUESS, THEN CHECK
Your checker: a free piano app
Any free piano app on your phone is enough. The rule that makes it work: commit to an answer first, out loud or on paper, and only then press the key. A guess you check trains your ear. An answer you look up first only trains your eyes.
Sing what you think is 7 half steps above C. Now press G. If your voice and the G match, you were right. If not, slide your voice onto the G and sing both notes again.
Check yourself
Sahar has ten minutes before class. Which plan follows the routine best?
- Ten minutes on intervals only, because they feel hardest to her
- Home note, then intervals, chords and rhythm, in short blocks
- Play each answer on the app first, then copy it with her voice
- Skip today and make up for it with a full hour on Friday
Show the answer
Home note, then intervals, chords and rhythm, in short blocks
Yes. Touching every skill a little each day keeps them all growing, and the one-minute home note tunes her ear before the rest.
Transcribe a short melody in four moves
- Find the home note
Hum the tune to its end and find the note it settles on. Find that note on the app. Everything else is measured from it.
- Draw the contour
For each new note, write up, down or same. Don't name anything yet.
- Mark steps and leaps
Next to each move write step or leap. A step is 1 or 2 half steps; anything bigger is a leap.
- Check the intervals
Now name the notes, count the half steps between neighbours, and play the whole line on the app. Fix the first note that sounds wrong, then play it again.
Mina transcribes the opening of Ode to Joy, in C.
1 home note the tune finally settles on C
2 contour same, up, up, same, down, down, down
3 steps every move is a step, no leaps
4 intervals half steps between neighbours:
notes: E E F G G F E D
moves: 0 1 2 0 2 1 2E E F G G F E D
First note E: 4 half steps above home C.
All quarter notes, two bars of 1 2 3 4. It stops on D, one step above home, so it sounds unfinished.She played all eight notes on the app once before trusting her page. It matched, so she moved on to the next line.
Check yourself
In E E F G G F E D, every move is a step: none is bigger than 2 half steps.
Show the answer
True
True. The moves are 0, 1, 2, 0, 2, 1 and 2 half steps. A phrase made only of steps and repeated notes is one reason Ode to Joy is so easy to sing.
KEEP SCORE
Track your progress
Write one line after each session: the date, what you practised, and how many of 10 guesses were right. A score is more honest than a feeling. When a drill has felt easy for a few days in a row, make it a little harder: a new interval, a faster tempo, a longer melody.
Mina's log: Monday, fourths vs fifths, 6 of 10. Thursday, 8 of 10. Saturday, 9 of 10. Next week she adds the major sixth.
Check yourself
Which part of the routine does each drill belong to?
- Sing 7 half steps up from C, then check G
- Say whether a chord sounds major or minor
- Count a shaker as 1 & 2 &
- Hum a song's bass: C, F, G, C
- Name the jump from E up to G (3 half steps)
- Tell a diminished chord from an augmented one
Show the answer
Intervals: Sing 7 half steps up from C, then check G, Name the jump from E up to G (3 half steps)
Chord qualities: Say whether a chord sounds major or minor, Tell a diminished chord from an augmented one
Rhythm or progression: Count a shaker as 1 & 2 &, Hum a song's bass: C, F, G, C
Check yourself
Kian writes the opening of Ode to Joy as E E F♯ G G F♯ E D. On the piano app it sounds off. What went wrong?
- He should have started on C, because the song is in C
- E to F is 1 half step, not 2, so the note is F
- The notes are right, so the rhythm must be what sounds off
- The tune leaps there, so the third note should be A
Show the answer
E to F is 1 half step, not 2, so the note is F
Right. There is no black key between E and F, so F is one half step above E; F♯ would be 2. His contour and steps were right. Only the size of that step was off, which is exactly what the checking move catches.
Your first week
- Day 1: set a 10-minute timer and run the routine once, even if it goes badly.
- Every day: guess out loud first, then check on the piano app.
- Once this week: transcribe a short tune you know, like Twinkle Twinkle or Frère Jacques, with the four moves.
- End of the week: read your log and give the weakest part an extra minute.
Check yourself
Match each move to what Mina found in Ode to Joy
Show the answer
- Home note → C, where the tune finally settles
- Contour → Same, up, up, same, down, down, down
- Steps or leaps → All steps, no leaps
- Check the intervals → E to F is 1 half step, F to G is 2
Course recap
- Ten minutes a day: 1 for the home note, 3 for intervals, 3 for chord qualities, 3 for rhythm or progressions.
- Guess first, out loud, then check on a free piano app.
- To transcribe: find the home note, draw the contour, mark steps and leaps, then check each interval.
- Keep a short log of scores out of 10, and make a drill harder once it feels easy.
- Ode to Joy opens E E F G G F E D in C: all steps, starting 4 half steps above home.